To counter RTÉ propaganda

Since we posted the photo contrasting RTÉ’s coverage of last night’s Legislate for X Case Bill with reality (see featured image) our Facebook page has been flooded with new people claiming everything from ‘only Sky has a licence to broadcast from Kildare St.’ to ‘ Satellite dishes don’t work in Kildare St.’Bullshit.

We have been covering news from outside the Dáil for years and while admittedly RTÉ rarely broadcasts any alternative voices or pictures of protest they certainly can and do film and live broadcast from Kildare St. There are regularly other TV crews, TV3 and Sky come to mind immediately who broadcast live or record from the corner of Buswell’s Hotel or directly across the road – Urusla Hannigan of TV3 practically lives at the junction during busy times like the Budget.

We’re not sure if the people now posting on Facebook are a concerted effort, from RTE or perhaps from a pro-life movement but felt it important to counter their spin/misinformation. RTE doesn’t broadcast from the Kildare St (protest) front of Leinster House when there are protests, not because it can’t but because it doesn’t want to.

Here are some more famous clips from RTE on the Kildare St side of the Dáil

This is very much a side issue; any activist can tell you how difficult it is to get any kind of reportage on the national airwaves of serious issues. This is why in times of crisis the public turns to foreign channels; case in point the IMF takeover – SKY News carried the press conference where RTE wouldn’t, RTE cuts away when Vincent Browne asks questions, Al Jazeera, SKY, Russia Today don’t.

What is more important here is how RTE presented and framed last night’s vote and response. It didn’t. We rely on social media, we rely on foreign news corps and we rely on underground or volunteer journalists like rabble.

Thats a load of weakness. No station is fully ‘objective’ or ‘neutral’ perfect but Thats ‘objectivity’ to the point of almost ignoring or minimising the issue, its a different rights issue Can U imagine if TV stations ignored Gandhi or Martin Luther King, or ignored Shell To Sea , RTE should film both sides & get soundbites fom each instead of just a ‘reporter’ waffling away from a ‘top source only’, over 100,000 marched against the use of Shannon to attack Iraq, & well over 10,000 last saturday , RTE always lowers the numbers plus edit it to few seconds footage to minimise any impact on society

Nobody had gone home Gavin, in fact the gates on both sides of the Dail were shortly blockaded by the public and despite a couple of Fine Gael members wishes to simply drive over the peasants the Gardaí asked them not to for another hour or so until those outside called it a night. Some protestors on the Merrion St. side were manhandled by Gardaí to let TDs drive out the rear although of course RTE wouldn’t have caught that on camera either….